Cry Ophelia
by frenchpiment
Summary: A Dramione Romance: Draco and Hermoine forge an unlikely friendship when Draco catches Hermione at her weakest.


**Hello hello hello…..this is my new story, entitled Cry Ophelia. I know it starts off in Australia, but i promise it is**

**a) only for the prologue **

**and**

**b) important to the story line.**

**This story will be a Dramione story, so turn off your set now if that's not what you're after. Or alternatively continue to read and be converted by my oh-so-fabulous writing (if you actually want to be converted, I suggest you read anything d/hr by Kyra4. ) **

**Disclaimer: J.k. owns Harry & Co. **

**Cry Ophelia**

**Chapter 1.**

"Hermione!" Harry called out, waving from a compartment window. "Over here!" Hermione looked up from the trunk she was struggling with and smiled at Harry and Ron fighting to stick their head out the window. She shoved her trunk up through the train doors and smiled briefly at Ernie McMillan who pulled it from inside the train.

"Thanks Ernie, seems to get heavier every year huh?"

"It was my pleasure Hermione. Or should I say Madame Head Girl?" Hermione glanced down at the Head Girl badge shining on her chest and grinned at Ernie again.

"Hermione is fine, but thanks for noticing." Hermione pulled the handle up on her trunk and wheeled it down to the compartment where Harry, Ron and Ginny were sitting.

"Hi all," Hermione said as she hoisted her trunk up onto the luggage rack. "How was everyone's summer? I wish we could have spent more time together, but...you know."

_The Summer Holidays before seventh year, Hermione spent apart from Harry and Ron. The Weasley's house "The Burrow" had been magically concealed since April, and once Harry had left the Dursley's for the last time, he had been hiding out with them. Snape had found out that the Weasley family were pretty high on the Death Eater Hit list, (somewhere just below Dumbledore and Harry) being a surrogate family to Harry Potter and all. Harry in hiding...that one is pretty much self explanatory. Not that he wanted to go...but since Dumbledore had made him promise not to go looking for Voldemort until he'd had some more personal training, he had reluctantly (although not too reluctantly since Ginny was there) gone with the Weasleys. Hermione's parents, growing increasingly concerned that their daughter wasn't going so survive another minute due to her heritage and the fact that she was best friend to Harry Potter, had refused to let her go into hiding with the Weasleys, and instead had taken her to Australia for the summer...wanting to spend all their time with her, and hopeful that Voldemort couldn't get her in Sydney. Hermione had befriended a group of teenage wizards and witches whom she had seen surreptitiously re-heating their cups of coffee with wands under their table. Excited that she had found people she could talk to, Hermione had gone and introduced herself._

_"Hi." The three boys and the girl just looked at her, before one of the boys broke the silence._

_"Can we help you?"_

_"It's just, I saw what you did with your coffee." The alarm was evident on their faces. Then another of the boys spoke up,_

_"Saw what?"_

_"You re-heating it. Don't worry, I go to Hogwarts. You've heard of my school haven't you?" Smiles broke out on the faces of all four teenagers, before they introduced themselves as Rupert, Ben and Violet, "and that's Oliver right?"_

_"Right. Well, I'm Hermione Granger. I am so glad I've found some people I can talk to..." Hermione was about to continue when Violet interrupted._

_"Hermoine Granger? THE Hermione Granger. Harry Potter's best friend."_

_"Oh her, I mean yes that's me."_

_"How cool. You've fought Death Eaters, and dated Victor Krum and stuff." _

_"You heard about everything all the way over here then?" Hermione grimaced inwardly, even people in Australia knew all about the war...Australia for Christ sake...an island on the other side of the fucking world!_

_"Course we have. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermoine Granger and Albus Dumbledore. Arguably the four most famous people of our kind EVER," Ben said. "And you know, obviously we've heard of Voldemort and Death Eaters and stuff."_

_"Wow...you said Voldemort. Hardly anyone I know says his name."_

_"Why wouldn't they? What do they call him...Tom?" Rupert asked, all four looking puzzled._

_"Are you serious? You've heard of Voldemort but you haven't heard that in Britain, basically everyone is too scared to say his name? Everyone calls him 'you-know-who' or he-who-must-not-be-named'. That sort of thing. And how did you know his name was Tom?" Hermione looked impressed at their extensive knowledge of Voldemort's background._

_"Everyone knows his real name don't they? Tom Marvelous Riddle or something like that."_

_"Marvolo," Hermione corrected, and was surprised when both Ben and Oliver snorted._

_"Marvolo," Oliver gasped out while laughing, 'I think we have that as a brand of stain remover." While the boys were laughing, Hermione looking on in amazement, Violet glanced at her watch._

_"Hey, I have to get back to my house to let the painter in. You all want to come with? Hermione too," Violet added with a smile._

_"Thanks, I'll just call my parents." Hermione pulled out her mobile and after a quick chat with her mother, assuring her that she was positive she wasn't going home with a bunch of Death Eaters, they left the coffee shop._

_"Come on, there's an apparition point just near here. The bathrooms in St James station which are always 'out of order'," Ben sniggered. Hermione followed them into a train station, down some stairs and through a peeling doorway. The doorway, like the Leaky Cauldron, seemed only to be visible to the five. _

_"Hermione, you'd better grab someone's arm so they can guide you...you can apparate right?"_

_"Yeah, passed my test last year," Hermione answered, grabbing Rupert's arm. _

_"On three then...one two three"_

_Hermione spent the whole afternoon with her new friends, talking mostly about the war in Britain, and what news they got about it in Australia. Hermione was amazed at the way they spoke about the Death Eaters, and Voldemort himself. They weren't scared at all, despite the fact that occasional attacks happened, mostly in Sydney, Melbourne or Canberra. Instead they were openly mocking of Voldemort, most of all, which Hermione found incredibly refreshing. By the time she returned to her hotel for dinner with her parents, Hermione felt more relaxed than she had in about two years time. Over the six weeks she was there, Hermione hung out a lot with Ben, Rupert, Oliver and Violet, glad to be able to talk about the wizarding world without constant mentions of 'you-know-who' or gasps whenever someone said 'Voldemort' In fact, she found that a majority of the teenage wizarding population, referred to him as "Voldy". Since for half of her trip, the others had to go back to school for the winter term, Hermione was able to visit "The Nowra Academy" which was Australia's answer to Hogwarts, which was on the south coast.. She met dozens of students from all around Australia, all of whom treated Voldemort with the same irreverence as Ben, Rupert, Oliver and Violet. She was plagued with questions about Harry, Ron, Dumbledore, Krum occasionally, and in one instance, Professor Snape._

_"Hey, Hermione, is one of your teachers Severus Snape? I heard he wears a green lacy dress, and a big hat with a vulture on it...is that true? Is he a transvestite then? My cousin told me he was." Hermione's laughter stopped abruptly when it clicked in her head that Snape obviously wasn't her teacher anymore. _

"_Yes to the dress wearing. And he was my teacher until this year. He left." Knowledge of Dumbledore's death was widespread, but the only people who knew the particulars of the situation were Violet, Ben, Oliver and Rupert. _Well at least the entire adolescent population of Australia is going to think that Snape is a transvestite now, _Hermione thought viciously to herself. Two weeks before she was due to start school again, Hermione returned to Britain, instantly going into hiding with her parents, promising to write, and wishing she could stay forever, blocking the stress of the war from her mind._

"I'm sorry Draco. There was nothing we could do. By the time I got there, she was already dead."

_This is all my fault._

"This isn't your fault."

_If I had just done what he'd told me, then she'd still be alive._

"If you'd done what he'd told you, she would be beside herself with grief."

_He's right._

"You know I'm right."

_Oh fuck off. What about him?_

"What about him?" Draco forced himself to ask.

"He's still alive. And there are no more orders at this point in time. I'm not sure what _his_ plan is but I'm trying to find out. Obviously I'll let you know as soon as I find out anything."

"Thanks Professor. What's going to happen to me for the rest of the summer?"

"You can't go home obviously. People will collect our school trunk, and anything you'll need and you will have to go into hiding. You will be in my care until term starts, but different people will be around my house, so you'll have lots of company."

"Spinner's End?"

"No. Thats the house which Voldemort knows about. This other one is in London, in Turnham Green."

"Right. So who will be around the house? People I have to pretend I've never met after the summer is over...people for your order thing?"

"Mostly a man called Mundungus Fletcher, who is for want of a better word, a sneak thief. Him and Professor McGonagall."

"McGonagall...fabulous," Draco couldn't keep the distaste out of his voice.

"Well, you don't have to pretend you don't know her at least."

Draco spent the remainder of the summer holidays mostly in the guest room of Snape's apartment, staring out at Muggle London. Snape offered Draco the chance to get out a little, and go for a walk with some random old lady (who actually turned out to be Tonks) but he declined. He hadn't become a complete recluse, but it was safe to say that he wasn't exactly the most sociable of creatures for a while. Each night he fell asleep easily, only to wake a few hours later, the same nightmare jolting him awake. A tall thin man with a snake like face, a flash of green light, _her_ body crumpling to the ground, and high pitched laugher. Despite the fact that he _hadn't_ been there when she had died, his subconscious seemed to constantly bring up the same scene, over and over in his mind. Draco could never fall back to sleep once he had woken, so at present he was averaging three hours sleep a night. Snape was trying to fit in brewing a Dreamless Sleep Potion, but in between Order duties, Death Eater duties, and the basic needs for living (eating, sleeping...breathing) there wasn't enough time in the day. That and the fact that brewing a potion in secret from your neighbours wasn't always easy...somehow hiding the orange fumes which rose from the cauldron wasn't an easy task. So Draco suffered every night, his own subconscious re-enacting endlessly his mother's murder.

On August 31st Draco lay down to sleep, looking forward to being back at Hogwarts. If it had nothing else going for it, the school did have a virtually bottomless supply of potions. Almost made it worth being in a building over-run with 500 or so Harry Potter devotees. Almost.


End file.
